The Jigsaw Strategy: Students Put Pieces of Reading Together
By Doug Buehl,
Madison East High School teacher
February 1997 
Think about the variety of potlucks you have been a partner in over the
years. A potluck is a traditional way of solving the food needs of a gathering
of people — everyone brings edibles, whether it’s an old favorite
or a hot new recipe, to round out the meal.
People tend to prepare foods they feel especially confident with; some
elect salads or desserts, others volunteer main dish specialties. Of course,
some foods require more preparation time and more culinary skill than
others. Yet a potluck is an especially efficient way to organize a meal
because no individual has sole responsibility for the work, a wide range
of possibilities are offered, and everyone shares what the others are
most comfortable contributing.
This “potluck” concept can also be applied in imaginative ways
to structure activities that meet the needs of a wide range of student
interests and abilities. For example, variations of the Jigsaw strategy
(Aronson, et al, 1978) involve students reading different selections and
then coming together to share what they have learned. Each student has
the task of learning about one part of the lesson, and then “teaching”
it to the rest of the group. Tasks can be differentiated so that some
group members may be provided with more challenging materials to read
than less skilled classmates. But the entire group benefits from the efforts
of each individual.
Using the Jigsaw strategy as part of a classroom activity involves the
following steps:
Step 1: Identify a range of materials related to significant topics addressed
in the lesson. Consider the students who will be involved in this exercise,
and if necessary, try to identify selections of varying text difficulty
and sophistication. For example, six different selections related to hurricanes
can be collected for middle school students studying weather. A textbook
excerpt might detail the atmospheric conditions that create hurricanes.
An article might give an overview of some of the areas affected and economic
consequences. An encyclopedia segment might provide a historical perspective
of significant hurricanes. A short book chapter might describe precautionary
measures that can be taken to prepare for hurricanes. A newspaper account
could feature a personal narrative of experiences of a specific hurricane
and the damages that resulted. And so on.
Step 2: Organize the class into cooperative groups of 4 to 6 people,
with the group size corresponding to the number of selections to be assigned.
Each group member receives the task of reading one of the targeted selections.
Depending on the nature of the group, the teacher may allocate the specific
readings to each person, or the group itself may decide who will tackle
which selection.
Step 3: Next, students read their selections independently. If the materials
are photocopied, encourage students to underline important information
they will need to share with their group. “Sticky notes” are
an option for materials that cannot be written upon. Students may also
jot down notes, or follow a graphic note-taking outline provided by the
teacher as a means for extracting important concepts from their passage.
Step 4: All of the students who read the same selection now meet together
as a new group to compare notes and discuss concepts and information they
feel are most important. This second group also creates a summary of key
points, a concept map, a graphic outline, or highlighted notes which will
then be photocopied and handed to members of the original group when each
person goes back to present what should be learned from this particular
material.
Step 5: The final piece to the Jigsaw activity involves a return meeting
of the original group. During this time, individual group members share
in turn the pertinent information related to each selection. The rest
of the group is accountable for learning this new information, which will
be assessed during the evaluation of this unit of study.
The Jigsaw strategy could be integrated into a number of classroom activities
that are structured so that everyone does not have to read an entire work
or even segments from the same work. For example:
- Students could be jigsawed into reading different sections of a history
chapter.
- Students could read different short stories that follow a similar
theme.
- Students could investigate different areas of emphasis within a topic
of instruction, such as the impact of ozone depletion on plants, weather,
bodies of water, incidence of skin cancer and so forth. In a history
class, New Deal initiatives could be broken down into public relief,
agricultural programs, public works projects, or industrial policies.
The Jigsaw strategy is adaptable to a wide variety of curricular settings,
and teachers will find it useful in a number of respects:
- Students can encounter a wider breadth of material than might be
possible if every individual had to independently read all of the available
sources.
- Students may elect to learn from materials more appropriate to their
abilities and specific interests.
- Students receive support from class members in learning from their
reading.
- Students gain practice in synthesizing what is important from what
they read as they assume the role of “teacher” with their
other group members.
Aronson, E., Stephen, C., Sikes, J., Blaney, N., & Snapp, M. (1978).
The Jigsaw Classroom. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Posted January 30, 1997